Naruto VS Pain is one of the most apocalyptic and epic fights within Naruto. It is the ultimate showdown between the two main students of the great Sanin Jiraiya.
It is also the largest test for naruto so far in the show, where he must face a Ninja of almost god-like power to avenge his village and save all those that have survived in the Hidden Leaf Village.
Perhaps you’ve just heard of this fight and would like to watch it yourself, or maybe you’re a long-time fan of Naruto but are looking for the episode where the fight happens, but can’t remember when exactly.
Either way – this is the article for you! We’ll be taking you through the episode in which Naruto begins his fight with Pain, as well as all of the episodes that follow.
We will also give you a short explanation of the episodes before – what leads to their epic showdown and also some of the fallout, as well as some deep exploration on the importance of this fight within the story of Naruto.
Naruto VS Pain is not something that happens within a single episode. Like most of the great battles within Naruto, the fights often take place over several episodes.
In this case, we see Naruto and Pain fight from episode 163 of the anime to episode 169. Important note – this is episode 163 to 169 of Naruto: Shippuden, which is the second half of Naruto’s full storyline.
If you go looking for episode 163 of the Naruto original series, you will find a different episode altogether.
Over the course of episodes 163-169, we see the entirety of the battle between Naruto and Pain unfold. There are several different stages to this battle. First off, Naruto and Pain throw summons at each other and begin to test each other’s abilities.
After this, Pain kills Hinata which forces naruto to become enraged and unleash his Nine-Tailed Fox form. Throughout the battle after this, he begins to lose more and more control over himself until he unleashes the entirety of the Nine-Tailed Fox upon Pain.
Their battle ends properly in episode 174, where Naruto confronts Pain and convinces him to stop his attempts to harness the ten-tailed beast.
Like all Naruto fights, the action is frequently interrupted by bouts of talking, flashbacks, and exposition. These give you indications as to the motivations of each character, as well as revelations to do with their character arks.
For example, it is during the Naruto VS Pain fight (in episode 168), that we learn Naturo is actually the son of the 4th Hokage. We did have suspicions of this before, but this is the moment that Naruto himself learns it.
The chakra impression of Minato stops Naruto from fully unleashing the Nine-Tailed Fox on his enemy and ultimately causes him to be able to defeat pain in the time after.
The actual combat between Naturo and Pain ends in episode 169, but it is not the end of their conflict.
Naruto eventually resolves to peaceful means to deal with Pain, which ends up with Pain reversing the damage he brought to the Hidden Leaf Village and resurrecting most of the important characters that he killed during his assault.
What Caused Naruto To Fight Pain?
Now that we’ve outlined when exactly the Naruto VS Pain fight takes place, we can begin to consider the reasons why it happened. There is almost an entire series of the build-up to this epic moment, and it’s important to try and understand why the two characters were destined to face off.
Ever since the introduction of the Akatsuki at the end of the first series of Naruto, we were given hints about its leader – a strange, spiky-haired character who looked suspiciously like Naruto.
In fact, his outline looked so much like Naruto that many fans speculated it might actually be Naruto, a clone of Naruto, or Naruto’s Father. Eventually, we were introduced to the character of Pain.
Pain was the leader of the Akatsuki (superficially, if nothing else), and a missing ninja from the Village Hidden in the rain. At first, his true power levels are not known, only that he has a strange kind of Dojutsu (eye power) that nobody had ever seen before.
It isn’t until Jiraiya travels to the Village Hidden in The Rain to spy on the leader of the Akatsuki, that we learn Pain has some connection to the wider story.
As Jiraiya faces off with pain, we begin to learn a little more about his backstory. Jiraiya had three students back when he was a younger ninja – Nagato, Konan, and Yahiko. These were orphan children who Jiraiya took under his wing out of pity.
When Jiraiya first faces off against Pain, he believes that his identity is Yahiko who had somehow obtained the Rinnegan – Nagato’s eye power.
However, as the fight goes on, six different people appear with the Rinnegan. Through the fight, Jiraiya eventually works out that Pain is actually Nagato – controlling the corpses of these other people with his Rinnegan.
Jiraiya gives his life to learn Pain’s identity and is killed at the end of the fight. After this, it seems that there is only a matter of time before Naruto will fight Pain. This intensifies after Pain attacks the Hidden Leaf Village and begins to kill and hurt Naruto’s friends and comrades one by one.
And so the stage is set – one student against another – both extremely powerful with different ideas about the world. Naruto wants to unify all the ninja of the world, and break the cycle of hatred – and Pain who wants to obtain great power to stop war at any cost.
What Is The Importance Of The Naturo Vs Pain Fight?
Now that we’ve explored some of the backstories regarding the Naruto VS Pain fight, we can examine the impact that it has on the wider story.
It is very important to understand that this fight marks a turning point in the Naruto story. It is the moment in which Naruto transcends his teachers and becomes a true hero of the Hidden Leaf Village.
Pain causes so much destruction on the Hidden Leaf Village that it seems impossible anyone will be able to defeat him. By the time he has destroyed the entire village with his ‘almighty push’ Jutsu, all of the living members of the Leaf Village hope that Naruto will come to save them – as their last hope.
When he does finally appear, Naruto is infuriated with the desolation of his home and fights to stop Pain. This is another big turning point in the series – Naruto experiences the deaths of some of his best friends and teachers, and in consequence lets rage consumes him.
This causes him to stay in the fight with Pain, but also nearly causes him to lose his mind to the Nine-Tailed Fox.
Eventually, Naruto was able to control the Nine-Tailed Fox, and defeat Pain without the use of its power. This is very important to the story as it displays how Naruto can be powerful without losing control of his emotions.
It’s also the moment in which two vastly opposing points of view face off. Naruto – who wants to stop war through peace and understanding, and Pain – who believes that the best way to create peace is through grand displays of power.
This is actually a major theme in the entirety of Naruto – characters that are trying to end the cycle of hatred and war. The conflict between how this can be achieved is the difference between the good guys and bad guys of naruto, and the ultimate problem of the series.
It’s also important to note that this fight takes place just before the battle between Sasuke and his older brother Itachi – another of the most important and well-loved battles in the series. If you were watching Naruto at this time, it was a good and tense time to be a Naruto fan!
Last Thoughts
We hope that this article has helped you find the episode in which Naruto fights Pain, as well as some of the context around their fight. Naruto VS Pain is often ranked as one of the greatest battles of Naruto, and we believe this is because of the emotional weight of the battle.
In the earlier chapters and episodes of Naruto, not many of the fights have the same stakes and emotions as Naruto VS Pain.
So if you want to watch Naruto VS Pain, take yourself to episode 163 of the Anime and watch up until episode 169. We do however suggest that you watch all the way up to episode 175 to get to the climax and resolution of the ark.
There are, however, much more episodes left in the Naruto Story after that – and it’s not the last you will see of Pain/Nagato.
